


Where We Live

by thefrogg



Series: Abandoned Works from LJ [6]
Category: Stargate Atlantis
Genre: Gen, OMC - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-03-04
Updated: 2013-03-04
Packaged: 2017-12-04 08:02:19
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 12
Words: 17,151
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/708412
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thefrogg/pseuds/thefrogg
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Lorne's team has long been responsible for Todd's security.  When they take Todd out to investigate an abandoned Wraith base, their changing attitudes towards the captive Wraith sparks a series of events no one in Atlantis is ready for.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Prologue

**Author's Note:**

> Previously posted on my livejournal.
> 
> //text in double slashes is telepathic speech.//

Todd paused in his coding, straightening to his full height before glancing up at the ceiling.

A twinge of premonition shivered down Lorne's spine. "Something wrong?"

"Call your men back." The not-quite-order was brusque, followed by a deep, almost inaudible growl. Todd's hands flew over the keys, the Wraith interface so much easier for him to use than those the humans used.

The charged quiet of battle anticipation set in, and Lorne nodded once before radioing the rest of his team. "Someone coming?"

"A Wraith ship; were I in better shape, I'd have sensed it sooner." Todd didn't spare Lorne a glance; there was too much to do.

"Can we make it to the gate?"

"No," Todd answered over the footsteps of the returning soldiers. Dr. Parrish followed a moment later. "We came afoot; they will have culled you before you manage to dial out."

"Wraith?" Parrish asked between panting breaths.

"Yes."

"Now what? We're pinned down here--"

"A moment. I must finish this if any of us are to survive."

Only heavy breathing and odd echoes up and down the corridors of the supposedly abandoned Wraith base accompanied Todd's frantic typing; code and graphics flickered overhead too fast to focus on.

A single schematic dominated the screens; Todd stared at it, committing it to memory before changing it in places, erasing doorways and passages, removing entire rooms. "I have disabled the self-destruct, and the base life-signs sensors. They will not be able to see you, so long as you do not give yourselves away."

"What about you?" Lorne met Todd's gaze, the yellow no longer odd or disturbing.

"You will have to trust me. They will be able to feel my presence; I cannot hide from them."

"You're going to play bait and lead them away from us? That's...that's suicide!" Changes in attitude came slowly, but to Parrish, and the rest of his team, Todd was one of them now.

"They cannot sense me from orbit, though I know that they are there. They are not of a Hive I have allied with, but I know who they are. They will believe me when I tell them you have been keeping me prisoner."

"You want us to leave you behind," Webber whispered in shocked accusation.

"With any luck, I will be able to escape them at some point. I cannot do that if I am found to be cooperating with you."

"You said we'd have to trust you," Lorne said, straightening and lifting his chin. "You have that. What do you need us to do?"

"For now, hold still." Todd turned and reached for Lorne with his feeding hand. "I have no wish to harm you."

Lorne swallowed hard, nodding again as he braced himself. Todd's hand settled over his breastbone, and there was a slight pain as Todd 'bit' down.

//Do not fight me.// 

The words didn't meet Lorne's ears, only echoed inside his mind. //Wha-what are you doing?// He could not keep the fear from his eyes, but at least the rest of his team was only restless, and not trying to pull them apart.

//Not feeding. Relax. I am only initiating a temporary link, so I can sense if you need assistance. And so I can tell you it is safe to return to Atlantis.//

New strength filled Lorne's body; it came in a rush of unexpected pleasure. //You are starving already, you can't afford--//

//Not starving enough, yet. And *this* is the way out.//

Lorne gasped, shutting his eyes as the base's plans appeared suddenly, too much information making him flinch away, and the connection was broken.

"Too much?" There was no mistaking the concern in Todd's voice, even as rough and weak as it was.

"No, no, I'm," Lorne shook himself, blinking rapidly. "I'm okay. Just not used to getting that much information shoved in my brain. And I wasn't aware you could do that."

"There is much about the Wraith you do not know."

"Yeah, well, you get back to Atlantis, and I'll be happy to pick your brain. Now show us where we're supposed to hide."

Todd narrowed his eyes in surprise and smiled. "This way. You will need to put the cuffs back on me before--"

"Got it." Miller held up the belt and attached cuffs. "Shall we?"

Lorne nodded. "Lead the way."

Todd led them to what appeared to be a bare hallway two corridors over and somewhere behind the main control room. "Here," Todd growled, flipping open a panel at chest-height and punching in an access code. A section of the wall vibrated, then slid aside. "There are noise dampeners, but I would suggest--"

"--we keep our mouths shut. Got it," Miller said. He held up the belt again. "Ready for this?"

Todd looked down at Lorne, the man's face almost too young now after having received the Gift of Life. New respect, and trust, glowed in Lorne's eyes. "Almost. Dr. Parrish."

"Yes?" The scientist stepped forward, then let out a small yelp as Todd grabbed his shoulder and pressed his feeding hand just below his throat. Years melted away from Parrish's face, etching themselves on Todd's.

"Enough," Lorne barked, pulling at Todd's arm.

"I will live, Evan Lorne, but it would be best to finish this now." He stepped away, giving Miller room to buckle the restraints.

"Good luck." Webber sketched a small salute, then ducked through the opening in the wall. Parrish nodded, hesitantly squeezing Todd's arm in thanks before following.

Miller finished with the second wristcuff, making sure it was fastened just too tight for comfort, then met Todd's eyes. "Make it back in one piece, you hear?"

"I will try to do so." Todd tilted his head in acknowledgment and watched Miller disappear into the darkness with the others.

"Todd."

"Major Evan Lorne."

"Come home, as soon as you can. It'll be different." Lorne licked his lips nervously, knowing time was running out. "I promise."

"I shall hold you to that." Todd turned to the hidden room, listening to the others feeling their way to the back and settling down. "You had better go."

Lorne nodded. "It's been a pleasure serving with you." Then he stepped back and hit the wall inside, vanishing as the door closed between them.


	2. Chapter 2

"Unscheduled gate activation!" Chuck announced, raising the shield.

Col. Carter dropped her pen and made her way into the Gate room. "Who is it?"

"It's Col. Sheppard's IDC, sir."

"John? You're early."

"We, uh, ran into an old friend," Sheppard's sardonically amused voice echoed from the speakers. "Figured he's a little more important than checking out some abandoned settlement."

Down on the steps leading to the Gate room floor, Lorne stiffened, gritting his teeth and thanking whoever was listening that neither Carter nor Sheppard could see him.

"You found Ford?" Carter asked.

"No, sorry. We kind of found Todd, though. Permission to come home?"

Carter paused, sharing a surprised and wary look with Chuck. "Permission granted. The shield is down, and you are clear to come home."

Neither of them noticed Lorne radio for his team to get to the Jumper Bay immediately.

~~~

"I still don't understand, it's like you were just *waiting* for us to come find you, and, oh, hi, Lorne." Rodney's rushed monologue ground to a halt.

Lorne nodded absently, all of his attention on Todd's too-tall form as he made his way stiffly out the rear hatch, one of Ronon's hands too heavy on the Wraith's shoulder.

"What's this, a welcoming committee?" Ronon rumbled, looking up as Miller, Webber and Parrish came to a skidding halt just inside the Bay doors.

"You could say that," Lorne said quietly. The words were for Ronon, but Lorne only had eyes for Todd. He'd, they'd waited months for this, and to have John, and Ronon-- "Welcome home."

"Major?" John's eyes narrowed in confusion.

"Todd?" Lorne held out a hand, watching in growing displeasure as Todd tried to come forward, only to have to tear himself forcibly out of Ronon's grip. "Let him go." He couldn't tell whether or not it was a good thing that Teyla wasn't here, her pregnancy too advanced for Sheppard to allow her to remain on active duty.

"He's a Wraith," Ronon muttered, implacable.

"He's a member of my team," Lorne said, finally taking his eyes off Todd to stare down Ronon. "Todd?" he said again, this time keeping his eyes on Ronon as the Wraith crossed the floor awkwardly, hands pinned at his sides once more. The scent of leather was hot and musty beneath his nose as Todd came to a stop beside and a little in front of him; he broke eye contact to concentrate on the buckles. "Colonel, I believe you and your team have an appointment with Keller," he said blandly, aware that the rest of his team had joined him, their presence behind him a quiet support.

"Major, what the hell are you doing?" Sheppard said, his tone making it an indignant almost-order.

"Sir, with all due respect?" Miller answered before Lorne could pry his clenched teeth apart. "He's doing what we all should have a long time ago."

Lorne made a mental note to thank his team for stepping up to the plate; he didn't think he could open his mouth without dealing Sheppard and Ronon an enraged lecture worthy of McKay's best. 

Todd turned, silently cooperating with shifts of weight and position as Lorne unfastened his restraints, hackles rising beneath the thickening tension and knowing himself incapable of lessening it.

"All done." The belt fell away, and Lorne held it up one-handed. "It came in handy last time. You can decide what to do with it." And he handed it over.

Fingers brushed - Lorne's bare skin, Todd's covered in supple black leather, new gloves from somewhere - and then Lorne had Todd by the arm, gently guiding him back towards the Bay doors and relative freedom.

~~~

"This is not the way to the brig." Todd looked at the map of Atlantis on the transporter wall, staring at the point Lorne had stabbed.

"I made you a promise," Lorne said softly. "We're not going to the brig. I took the liberty of reserving you quarters near mine. I don't know what you like, but at least you'll have your own space while we look for something better." Baby steps, he told himself. Baby steps.

Todd turned back around as the door opened on another corridor, across the city and several stories up. "I doubt that will be necessary; this is the first time I have had a place to come home to," he admitted somberly, fidgeting as Lorne nudged him out of the transporter.

Something inside Lorne trembled, making him inhale deeply to still it. "I'm glad you had someone, some people, to come home to."

"Hmmm, yes." The sounds were soft, just a purr and gentle hiss as they came to a stop in front of one of Atlantis' seemingly endless identical doors.

Lorne waved it open and stepped aside, biting the inside of his cheek.

Light streamed in through the windows on the far side of the room, casting the furniture in the main room in shadows, and the doors and the entrance to the kitchen in darkness.

Todd stepped carefully into the room, the carpet giving beneath his boots, his sharp eyes taking in personal effects: books stacked on the end tables; a datapad and stylus sitting on the couch cushions; photos of strangers hanging in frames from the wall. "These are your quarters," he whispered in amazement.

Lorne nodded. "A new section was opened shortly after you...were taken," he finally said, uncertain what to call Todd's unwilling but necessary absence. "I claimed this suite, hoping you'd be willing to stay here, at least for a little while. Not everyone's going to like your being free. You'll be safer here, with me, than you would be staying by yourself. At least until people understand you're not like the others." Only his military training kept him from fidgeting beneath that yellow gaze. "I've been told I'm a quiet and unimposing roommate, if that's--"

"Wraith...are not given a choice."

Lorne swallowed the rest of what he'd been about to say. "I...guess there's much I don't know about the Wraith." Deep breath. "And, if you don't mind my saying so, a lot of what I do know...makes me rather glad I'm not one."

"Hmmm. Yes. I do not mind. I find there is much to be envied about humans. And much I would bring to the Wraith, if given the chance."

"So...you'll stay?"

Seeming unable to answer verbally, Todd nodded.

"Well, then." Lorne felt his face heat at Todd's curious glance. "Welcome home."


	3. Chapter 3

"I told you," Sheppard muttered, exasperated. "We landed, we walked in, we looked around the ruined village, we followed the energy signature, we found Todd sitting neat as you please in what was left of the town bar. We went over this."

"And then Major Lorne and his team staged a jailbreak," Carter said flatly.

"Can't call it that. We didn't get him down to the brig," Ronon answered, shrugging.

"No, of course not, but is this mutiny, or insubordination or what?"

"Rodney." Teyla heaved a sigh. "Perhaps it is simply a case of Lorne's team having worked with Todd enough to come to trust him. I do not see the brig as an option if he is to remain here long-term."

"Better than letting him run around free."

Col. Carter glanced at Ronon, then at Sheppard across the table. "Do we even know where Todd is right now?"

"My guess would be Lorne's quarters. I didn't think twice about it when Lorne claimed the suite after that mission to P3X-5J2, but--"

Rodney snapped his fingers. "Yes, and that would explain why he asked me to jury rig the door locks!"

Silence descended.

"Um. Oops. Was I not supposed to mention that?"

"What'd you do to the locks?" Sheppard glared.

"Um. I fixed them so only his team and the Chief Medical Officer could override it?"

"Wait," John started, eyes narrowing in suspicion.

"John," Teyla cut him off. "Before we start arguing about what could happen, perhaps we should look at this from another perspective."

"And what's that?" Carter asked.

"I am not that familiar with the laws and customs of your people, but among those we of Athos trade with, it is against the law to blame an entire group for the actions of a single member. Likewise, if a group commits a crime, a single individual has the right to seek asylum, provided they can prove they were not involved."

"He's a Wraith, they eat humans," Ronon said bluntly.

"I am aware of that. However, we know that he was imprisoned for many years before Kolya captured John. Therefore he could not have been involved with any of the attacks on Atlantis, or on Athos. You may wish to ask Ladon about it when next we speak with him, but I doubt he was free even when Sateda fell. We have no right to blame him for our personal losses, particularly when he has fought so hard to earn our regard."

"You know, I did kind of think it odd that we found him like that," Rodney added, rubbing his fingers together. "I mean, seriously. Who would want to go back to being penned up in the brig? He's not like Michael, he has some kind of standing or rank among the Wraith. He was responsible for getting the Wraith to help against the Replicators, after all. He helped save Jeannie. And correct me if I'm wrong, which I'm not, but he didn't look half-starved."

"He looks like that damned super-Wraith that killed Abrams and Gaul," Sheppard muttered.

"Perhaps he made certain he would not need to feed, at least for a good while, before coming here."

Ronon raised an eyebrow at Teyla's suggestion. "So what, or who, did he eat?"

Rodney shrugged. "They apparently have no qualms about draining each other, particularly if the drainee isn't of their own Hive. Lorne's report on the mission to P3X-5J2 was pretty thin, but it seems unlikely that whatever Hive took Todd was one he was allied with."

"Lorne's mission report was too thin," Carter said.

Sheppard nodded.

"I would suggest we find out what really happened."

Sheppard glanced at Teyla and grit his teeth. "You can count on that."

"In the mean time," Carter said, "I am not asking you to trust Todd. I am, however, asking you to trust Major Lorne. If circumstances change--"

"You mean if Todd stabs us in the back." Ronon's words were more growl than speech.

"Why?" Rodney asked. "He has no incentive whatsoever to do that. He finally has someone willing to listen to him when he insists he's not a threat to us, and he knows what you'll do to him if he sets one toe out of line. It's not like you haven't threatened him at all."

"If circumstances change," Carter repeated more firmly, "we'll review the situation. Right now, I'm willing to give Todd the chance to prove himself. Without threats and imprisonment," she added, glancing between Sheppard and Ronon.

"Yes, ma'am." Sheppard's displeasure flashed in his eyes, echoed by the hand Ronon had on his blaster.

~~~

Lorne followed at a distance as Todd slowly explored their quarters, a shared sense of curiosity-uncertainty-pleasure strung between them. "Can I ask you something?" he finally asked, watching the Wraith open and close the kitchen cabinets.

"Hmmm. Yes." Todd barely glanced up, instead running gloved fingers over the Farberware logo on the pots and pans.

"Why'd you do it?" Lorne's voice was laced with fond exasperation, frustration and confusion. "I mean, you got away, obviously, but to trade your freedom for the dubious safety of the brig? You never did say, exactly."

One hand still hidden in a cabinet, Todd paused.

Lorne could all but see the memory as Todd relived it.

_//"Colonel Samantha Carter, this is Todd." The disembodied voice sounded amused._

_There had been a pause as Carter and Lorne, and some of the on-duty gateroom staff, had exchanged glances of incredulity and disbelief._

_"You have a lot of nerve calling on us, Todd," Carter finally answered._

_"Hmmm. Perhaps. I have a proposition for you."_

_"Oh?"_

_"I happen to have a fully functional, undamaged Wraith Dart. I believe it may prove useful to your scientists in finding a weakness; if not, it would certainly be useful in effecting rapid evacuations."_

_"And what do you want in exchange?"_

_"Asylum."_

_"You can **not** be serious," Carter snarled. "You are a **security** risk at best, and a direct threat otherwise."_

_"Colonel Samantha Carter, had I wanted to betray you and your people, I could have done so any number of ways already." The patience in Todd's voice was stretched tired and thin. "The least of which would be to advertise your new Gate address, which, I might inform you, is not easy to keep from being broadcast as part of a **Hivemind."**_

_"That's exactly my point, Todd, you put us at risk--"_

_"I did as you asked, Colonel Samantha Carter. You asked for my cooperation, I gave it to the spirit of our agreement, including protecting **your people.** None of your people are that generous when it comes to my side of a bargain." Words edged with anger dissolved into a faint hiss before continuing. "After helping John Sheppard blow up the cloning facility, I have a target painted on my back."_

_"That is not our doing."_

_"I am not asking much. Keep me in the brig if you must. I will help in whatever fashion I am able, or allowed; it is an asset you cannot afford to be without, and would lose permanently if the others catch me."_

_Lorne cut the microphone. "Sir? He's right. He's proved himself too valuable to just throw away like this."_

_"He could be lying."_

_"I don't think so. Sir."_

_Sam stared, lips thin and white. "You're in charge of his security. And," she added, "you get to explain this to Colonel Sheppard."//_

Todd shook himself free of the memories, cabinet door closing with a quiet thud. "The answer to that question - the answer I can give you," Todd amended quickly, "is quite complicated."

"You promised I could pick your brain if you got back in one piece."

"Hmm. Yes. So I did." Drawers slid open and shut as Todd inspected the contents. "I was held by the Genii for years. John Sheppard...You must understand. The Genii were the first humans I ever had contact with, on more than a momentary basis. The way they treated me, I learned to equate sarcasm with cruelty."

"But you used it, when we found you."

"Only in self defense," Todd sighed. "The Genii had stripped me of everything, pride and dignity included. I could not afford to pass up John's offer of escape, even though I truly did not expect him to keep his side of the bargain."

"The way he did probably didn't earn him any points, either," Lorne said softly.

"No. He stunned me, and left me, Hiveless and alone and helpless; if the Wraith where he'd dropped me hadn't been allied with my Hive, they would have..." Todd flinched, breath rasping in his throat. "I was isolated in that cell so long that being part of a Hive was foreign to me, alien. It is...still difficult, to integrate that much."

Admission of that kind of vulnerability stunned Lorne. "But that doesn't explain why."

"I tagged you as part of my Hive," Todd answered. Simple, and yet no explanation at all. "When I escaped from the cloning facility, and you and Teyla were on the Hive ship."

"Tagged me?"

"You...treated me with respect. You said what you meant, you meant what you said. You were understandably angry about your friends, but you didn't blame me for what I could not have helped."

"You came back because I treated you with respect?" Lorne shook his head.

"I came back because I had a choice." Todd's fingers curled on the countertop; his nails would have dug into the surface, but for the gloves. "I came back because being held prisoner, with even **one** person who actually felt comfortable in my head, was better than being on the run, alone." He made a sound, clenched teeth and suppressed despair. 

Lorne could find nothing to say to that.

~~~

"Hey, Teyla, wait," John called, jogging to catch up with her on the way to the mess. "Why are you so pro-Todd all of a sudden?"

She tilted her head and frowned at him, as if he should know the answer. "I am not, but he wears the face of our enemy. He is the only constant example of the Wraith available to us, but as an individual, he has accomplished much to our benefit. I would not have him suffer because we can not see past the circumstances of his birth," she explained.

"And?" John lengthened his stride, bumping her shoulder gently.

Teyla sighed. "And because Major Lorne's team trusts Todd. You and Ronon, especially, do not. I would not like to see a rift grow between you. Having factions here in Atlantis, and because of an ally we have not given the chance to earn our trust, would be disastrous."

John had to wonder if Teyla ever gave herself permission to be undiplomatic.


	4. Chapter 4

Silence followed them to what was once probably a child's bedroom, and was now serving as Lorne's studio; it was still mostly bare, just a stool, easel, table and painting supplies.

Including two canvases. They were both of Todd, the finished painting of when Todd had given Lorne the Gift, black-clad arm stretched out along the side, a mix of aging-pain and ecstacy written in soft brushstrokes; the other, half-finished and still set up on the easel, had him framed in the doorway, hands belted to his sides, his expression one of resignation, fear, pride and determination.

Todd had spent long minutes staring at them, one black finger tracing the air just over the surface. His pleasure hummed softly in the back of Lorne's mind, pride in his talent and quiet amazement in the undercurrents, the same way he could tell when Todd spoke the truth; it probably had something to do with the tagging, perhaps some leftover side effect of the Gift. Lorne wasn't ready to ask about it.

That didn't mean he couldn't ask about something else, though. "You said you tagged me as part of your Hive," Lorne said, trying to distract himself. 

"Hmm." Todd turned the page in one of the sketchbooks Lorne'd left on the table, admiring the character sketches, fluid lines mapping out movement and the passage of time.

"I thought you had to be born to a Hive."

"Usually. Or part of a Hive captured by a rival queen."

"And unusually?"

Todd stilled, even his breath freezing in his chest.

"Todd?" Lorne had a sneaking suspicion he wasn't going to like the answer.

"Hmm." Todd returned the sketchbook to its place on the table and stared out the window. "There are some, among the Wraith, capable of...gathering their own Hive."

"And you're one of these."

"Yes. Each Hive is made up of...I will save the vocabulary for a later date. Drones, warriors, technicians, officers...a queen, if they're lucky enough to have one. And a handful of what loosely translates to 'learning pillar.'"

Lorne could read the shame on Todd's face, in the lines of cheek and jaw, the tendons standing out from his neck, the way he wouldn't meet Lorne's eyes. It oozed, like thick tar, smothering the Wraith's earlier pleasure.

"Each Wraith knows the bare basics: a drone knows how to fight, how to use his weapons; a technician knows how to operate their equipment. Enough to perform simple duties while cut off from the Hive."

"That's why the other Wraith we captured didn't tell us much of anything," Lorne guessed.

"Chances are, what they could have told you, you could not understand. And if you could, you would be unable to use it."

"And a learning pillar?"

"The foundation upon which a Hive is built. A repository for skills and knowledge, to be drawn upon by members of that Hive."

"In other words, the most valuable part of a Hive," Lorne said in spite of himself, bracing himself for the Wraith version of Everything you thought you knew was wrong.

~~~

Sam waited impatiently for the two minutes it took Daniel to get to the conference room back at the SGC. General O'Niell was in Washington, D.C., as usual. At least Woolsey would take longer to show up.

If she timed it right, she might be able to avoid talking to him at all.

"Hey, Sam," Daniel greeted her as he slid into the seat at the console, apparently pleased that she wasn't wearing some flavor of "Oh my god, we're all going to die" on her face.

"Daniel." She smiled ruefully.

"You have," Daniel checked his watch, "about twelve minutes before Woolsey gets here. Official or unofficial?"

"Unofficial. God, I don't have a clue how I'm going to write this one up."

"I'm sure you'll come up with something. Now spill."

"Sir, yes, sir!" she answered snappily, giving him a mock salute.

"I'm surrounded by wise guys."

Reminded of her own contingent of 'wise guys', Sam sobered. "I think we're going to start having a problem with factions here."

"Factions as in political or diplomatic factions or factions as in SG1 vs. the NID?"

"Factions as in...SG-1 vs. SG-3. Or, perhaps, SG-3 vs. the rest of Atlantis."

"Factions as in Sheppard's team vs. Lorne's," Daniel said flatly.

Sam nodded. "Todd's back. Sheppard doesn't trust him, Ronon wants to shoot him and be done with it. And Todd's practically a member of Lorne's team now."

Daniel blinked and leaned back in his chair. He took a deep breath and spoke quietly. "Remember our first encounter as a team with Apophis?"

"Todd isn't exactly Teal'c, Daniel, it's not like we can feed him milk and cookies and expect him to be satisfied with that."

"No, he's not. But the parallels here are striking. Would that he was Teal'c, would you be treating him as you have? Or would you have treated him as the resource that Teal'c was for us?"

"That's not even an issue here. We know what kind of resource he is--"

"Sam," Daniel interrupted gently, "I've read the reports. I know what he's capable of. I also know that there's been jack squat done in terms of research into, oh, I don't know, an alternate source of food. Or some kind of technique or drug that would make them able to feed without traumatizing their food source to death."

Sam couldn't answer.

"Maybe that's why he's willing to work with you. Maybe he sees working with humans as the only hope his people have, because from what I've seen? Long term, his people are living on borrowed time."

"And in the meantime, we still have to feed him," Sam said unhappily.

"You want my advice?"

"Daniel..."

"Talk to him. There's been an awful lot of blame going on, and not a whole lot of actual diplomacy. If you want, I'll ask Jack if he can afford to lose me for a bit."

Blackness swept over Sam before she realized she'd shut her eyes. She longed for the days of SG-1, where even shoot-outs with the Goa'uld and watching Jaffa march in formation and a hundred other horrors seemed so much simpler than trying to justify... She shook herself. "Bring up the possibility with him. I don't know if it'll be necessary."

"Just remember, the offer's open." Daniel paused. "Even if Atlantis doesn't need it," he added.

"Thanks." Sam took a deep breath. "So."

"So...I take it he's not staying in the brig this time around."

Startled laughter lit Sam's face. "No, apparently Major Lorne dragooned him into moving in with him."

"You're serious? Of course, you're serious. Good tactics, too, especially since Ronon's apparently hellbent on shooting him..."

"Lorne stormed the Jumper Bay when Sheppard's team returned with him and staged a jailbreak," Sam continued, unable to hide the amusement at the misuse of the word. "Teyla's lucky she's on maternity leave, or else they'd probably all still be in there negotiating Todd's release."

"Every time I think one of our teams has taken the cake in the 'general weirdness' war, someone from your end of the universe outdoes them. I don't know whether to laugh, or just shut my eyes and try to make it go away."

"Speaking of making it go away..."

Daniel glanced at his watch. "Yep, you got...just enough time."

"I think my report will go something like...Glad you could join us, Mr. Woolsey," Sam said, pasting a bright, and patently fake smile on her face.

"Yes, yes, I'm sorry I'm late, we weren't exactly expecting you to call," Woolsey grumbled, fumbling with his handkerchief.

"As I was telling Dr. Jackson here..." Sam took a deep breath and glanced at Daniel, eyes twinkling. "Lorne asserted his given duties in a manner designed to both gain trust and build an environment of diplomacy with a previously dismissed portion of the Pegasus population."

The silence once she'd finished was rather strained as Woolsey tried to decipher what she was talking about, and more importantly, whom.

"Now, if you'll excuse me, we have a team due to be checking in, and I don't want to leave them stranded out there if they need help. Dr. Jackson, Mr. Woolsey, I'll speak with you again during the weekly updates." She waited for Daniel to salute her, his grin mocking, before cutting the link.

~~~

By the time Todd finished, Lorne felt physically ill. He wanted to throttle Colonel Sheppard, Ronon, Carter...half the marines on base. Even the dubious comfort of suspicion was lost to him; Todd couldn't lie. Not like this. Not when he was Hive.

"I did not tell you all of this to make you guilty, or to drive a wedge between you and John Sheppard," Todd rasped, mouth dry from talking.

Lorne shook his head, the taste of bile clinging to the back of his throat. "Sheppard did that on his own. Here," he said, going back to the kitchen. "Let me get you some water." He pulled out a large glass and filled it, his fingers brushing Todd's as he handed it over.

Golden eyes shuttered as Todd drank deeply, each swallow unnaturally loud. 

"Since you tagged me as Hive, what can I expect from it?" Lorne asked, trying to get the topic onto more solid, if personal, grounds. Even grounds he was unsure he could handle.

"Tagging is passive in nature. It allows me to track you, if we are in close enough proximity; it acts as a homing beacon. You can sense my emotions, my...intent, I suppose." He set the glass on the counter and licked his lips. "If you were Wraith, you could take what knowledge you needed."

"So that's how I know you can't lie to me."

"No, not unless I'm not aware of it. If what I know as the truth is not actually true, it will still feel like the truth to you, but I can not lie to you purposely."

Lorne idly wondered what it would take to convince Todd to tag Sheppard; he sensed it would make things a great deal easier for all of them. Except with their history... He banished the thought. Given what he knew - information that was refusing to settle in his brain so he could possibly look his CO in the eye without shooting him - tagging was not a means to an end.

"When we were fighting our way out of the Genii prison camp," Todd started slowly, "I would have tagged Sheppard if I had had the strength. But by the time I had drained the guards, and restored what I had taken from him, he had already..."

"He'd already proved himself little better than the Genii," Lorne finished for him, wondering if mind-reading was part of being Hive. Or if that had to do with the sense of secrecy he could feel lurking beneath Todd's melancholy, a hint of _'not ready for it all, just yet'_ he was willing to live with.


	5. Chapter 5

Todd finished two more glasses of water before Lorne settled enough to show him the bedrooms. The windows in Todd's room were obviously a pleasure; the bed, on the other hand, was simply picked up with careless ease and tipped on end to lean against the inside wall. 

It wasn't until Lorne got the sharp stab of need/yearning at the sight of the shower that he picked up on the reason why. "Hey, hey, wait."

Todd froze, hands caught in the catches of his armor.

"It's okay, I thought you might want to have some clean clothes first," Lorne said softly; it wasn't as if he'd never been held prisoner, never felt the clawing urge to scrub himself raw in the name of being clean again.

"This is all I have." Todd tugged at the dusty black leather.

"Not anymore. Here," and he tugged Todd back into his new bedroom and opened the closet. Standard issue uniforms, in a range of size gigantic, hung on one side; crisp new leathers, sewn in fair approximation of Todd's own, hung on the other, one set each of blue and green and brown. "I wasn't sure on the size, but I had the leathers made kind of large, and they can be fitted..." He trailed off, watching as Todd stripped the ever-present black armor off his upper torso, leaving it in a heap just inside the door. "Take it easy. The shower's not going anywhere."

Todd flinched, then held disturbingly still as Lorne reached out, resting a hand on Todd's back.

Todd's skin felt cool, almost clammy, sticky with dried sweat and fear. Lorne could feel it in the back of his mind, longing/anxiety/deprivation, a hunger for touch he hadn't equated with the Wraith. Infinitely careful, he pulled his hand downward, stroking over Todd's shoulderblade, along the edge of his ribs where the silver of his skin gave way to metallic blue, the faint, shimmering remnant of insect wings.

Pleasure hissed its way through Todd's clenched teeth, unexpected and startling. Ducking his head in submission, he grappled for a hold on the bar.

"Easy," Lorne whispered over and over, feeling muscles shift, a hard ridge of something rising up from beneath the skin beneath his fingertips. His nails snagged in the ripples, making Todd gasp and lose his balance; Lorne caught him, cradling him with his body as they sank to the floor. The need was stronger now, the need for acceptance, to belong somewhere, to something more than himself alone.

_//"There is much that you do not know about the Wraith."//_

The words held the weight of ritual behind them, one that Lorne had not known until he'd already answered; he knew more now, almost too much. More than could be explained without admitting to being something more than Hive. Something more to Todd.

_//"Come home, as soon as you can. It'll be different. I promise."//_

Lorne knew, now, as Todd shook beneath him, that he'd accepted what Sheppard had not, had unknowingly offered Todd a home, someone to answer to. Someone willing to recognize that Sheppard hadn't freed him, only given him a different kind of prison.

Someone willing to deal with the broken pieces left behind.

Responsibility was nothing new to Lorne; sometimes it was the only thing that kept him sane in this galaxy.

~~~

"Mind if I sit down?" Sheppard asked wryly, hating the way the three-way discussion had ground to a painful, awkward halt at his approach.

Webber tilted his head to the space surrounding them. "It's a free city, sir."

The tension and hostility the trio projected screamed denial as he slid into a chair with boneless grace. "You mind telling me what's going on?" he asked, gaze pinning Webber, then Miller, then Parrish.

"Ask Major Lorne," Parrish answered, jaw clenched tight.

"I'm asking you."

"Colonel Carter gave Lorne, and by extension us, the task of seeing to Todd's security," Miller explained. "You backed her up on that, sir."

"And yet he's not in the brig."

Webber picked up the thread. "You said security, sir, nothing about the brig. I'd say he's rather secure right now." 

"Really."

"Sir, before you try shooting yourself in the foot, try and get to know the guy at least a little bit." Parrish traded a rueful, bitter smile with Miller. "He's not a monster."

"He's a Wraith," Sheppard said, like there was no difference.

The hostility ratcheted up a notch as the three glance at one another. "He's a telepath, Sheppard. Have you ever thought about what that might mean in terms of 'security'?" Miller asked.

Parrish didn't give him a chance to answer. "It means Todd's not a security risk. All he'd have to do is scream for help."

"He's a member of our team, whether you like it or not," Webber added. "I don't think you'd like it any better if someone ordered you to keep Ronon locked in the brig when he's not in the field."

"Ronon's human."

"The Wraith can't feed on him. That mean he's still human?" Miller snapped.

"On a personal level," Parrish broke in before Sheppard could, "Ronon is arguably the most dangerous individual in Atlantis. But you get my point."

'You damn well better,' hung between them.


	6. Chapter 6

Lorne found it kind of awkward, trying to be the big spoon for someone a foot taller than he was, but somehow, he managed. The simple fact that Todd was trusting him like this made it harder, hammered home just how important this was, the simple truth that Lorne could tell Todd to do anything right now, and Todd would do it without question.

Still stroking Todd's proto-wings, where they wrapped around his flanks, Lorne wondered idly if this was anything like what Sheppard had with Ronon. But Ronon was human, and Todd wasn't; even the scent of him drove that home, dust, ozone, and oil all covering what must be Todd, rich soil, deep forest and a touch of pine at the height of summer.

The shudders took forever to still, and even when they finally did, Todd's muscles jumped and twitched under Lorne's fingers, and his ribcage hitched in stuttering breaths. 

Lorne just wrapped himself tighter against his back, thumbs skimming down the bony ridges where they tapered to fine points. "Easy, easy, I'm not going anywhere." The words didn't matter, just the cadence, the presence, soothing and constant; Lorne was nonetheless careful to avoid phrases like it's okay and everything's going to be all right. They weren't, and wouldn't be for a long time. All he could do was try and reassure Todd that he wasn't alone anymore, that he did have someone to protect him from the callous cruelty he'd been subject to.

The light had changed, most of the bedroom flooded with sun, by the time Todd became deadweight in Lorne's arms, breath slow and even in sleep. Lorne lay there and made sure for several long minutes before carefully extracting himself, stilling every time Todd stirred. 

Keeping Todd in sight, he backed out of the closet, into the now nearly bare bedroom and activated his comm. "Colonel Carter?"

"Major Lorne. Did you want to tell me what's going on?"

Lorne sighed. "Not particularly."

"Lorne, I just got off the horn with the SGC keeping your ass out of a sling."

"For doing what? Taking care of Todd?" Lorne snapped back. "You made him my responsibility, and you and Colonel Sheppard and everyone else in this city have been treating him like a whipping boy for everything the Wraith have done. Would you rather tell the SGC that the only ally we have among the Wraith killed himself because you didn't care enough to keep him sane? He's already had one breakdown, and passed out asleep on his closet floor."

There was a guilty silence before Carter answered. "He can't be that bad, he wasn't--"

"He was, and he is, and we haven't been doing him any favors," he hissed into the mouthpiece. "Hell, half of this is our fault - yours, and Colonel Sheppard's, and..."

"So what do you expect me to do about it? I can't exactly just make an announcement, 'Hey, you don't have to be afraid of Todd anymore.'" Sam's voice was dry, full of subdued anger and resignation.

"With all due respect, sir, people follow the example that you and the rest of the command staff set."

"I've already told Colonel Sheppard and Ronon to back off. What more do you want from me?"

"What you would give to any other ally in any galaxy. Sir." Lorne sounded tired even to his own ears. "And while you're at it, keep Colonel Sheppard off my back while I try and piece what's left of Todd's psyche back together."

"Shouldn't you leave that to the psychologist?"

"He's a non-human alien, sir, the only people who have half a clue how he thinks are me and my team. And that's only because we've made the effort to find out." Carter squawked in his ear, but he ignored it to turn back to the too-still body on the floor. "I'm not handing him over to someone who can only do more damage. I have to go, Todd's waking up," he said, deactivating his comm. It was a blatant lie, but he couldn't afford to lose his temper.

Twilight spread its wings across the sea before Todd stirred, drawing Lorne's attention away from his datapad. Dazed yellow eyes opened slowly, searching.

"Hey," Lorne said softly, not wanting to startle the Wraith. "Feel any better?" The question wasn't quite necessary; he could feel Todd's sluggishness, the nervousness and vulnerability he wouldn't admit to under torture. "Seems like you needed that," he added.

"Evan." The name came rough and metallic; Lorne set aside his datapad and poured a glass of water from the pitcher he'd had ready. Todd hauled himself awkwardly into a sitting position and accepted with a nod, draining it with a few swallows.

"You seem to need a lot of water these days."

Todd shrugged, setting the glass down and turning to face Lorne. "It is...an aftereffect of..." His shoulders hitched.

"Long-term deprivation," Lorne guessed, and was rewarded with a jerky nod. "Take your time recovering. You're the only one who'd have any idea how it's supposed to go."

Just like that, Todd started shaking again, looking wildly at anything but Lorne.

"Hey, hey, easy. Take it easy." Lorne went up on his knees, reaching out with the very human urge to comfort.

Todd caught his wrist, bringing Lorne's hand to his cheek and rubbing against it like a cat. His breath was warm on Lorne's skin.

Happy to let Todd have his way, Lorne remained silent, wondering if this was more of Todd's need for contact, or some kind of Hive bonding behavior. Probably the latter, some kind of pheremonal marking, he decided, feeling the rhythmic slide-scrape-slide of Todd's cheek.

Apparently finished, Todd let go, tilting his head back against the closet wall; the brown set of leathers caught in his hair, only to be ignored.

"Would you like the other one?" Lorne asked softly.

Todd's eyes shot open in startlement.

Lorne held out his unrubbed hand, watching Todd follow the motion. "I don't know what you need from me," he said finally. "You're going to have to help me figure it out."

Gaze flickering uncertainly between Lorne's face and proffered hand, Todd swallowed hard.

Lorne held still, content to wait; it would take time for Todd to learn to ask for things, and to be certain of what was being offered. Lorne's arm was aching with fatigue before Todd met him halfway, cupping Lorne's hand in his and rubbing small circles in his palm with a gloved thumb. The touch was hypnotic, and Lorne felt his breathing deepen, matching Todd's near inaudible hum.

Lorne's comm chirped, breaking their fragile peace. Todd paused for a bare moment, then dropped his hand and lurched gracelessly to his feet. Once standing, he grabbed the leathers before ducking out of the closet, and into the spreading darkness of his bedroom.

The shower turned on, white noise that failed to mask the walls slamming down over the fear/anxiety/self-consciousness in the back of Lorne's mind.


	7. Chapter 7

Todd emerged from the bathroom almost an hour later, hair damp, skin cast the color of new leaves against the rich brown of his leathers.

"I'll have to see about getting those tailored for you," Lorne said, noting the tightness through the shoulders. The cut wasn't bad, but it would be a handicap in combat. Not that he was going to let Todd back in the field any time soon.

"Hmm." Todd met his eyes, mask of calm indifference firmly back in place. "I can manage, with the proper tools."

Unsurprised, Lorne nodded. "Make a list, and I'll see that you get them." Rising, he set his datapad on what passed as his coffee table. "You up for eating dinner with the team? I cleared it with Colonel Carter, just in case someone decides to make a stink about it."

"That would be wise, if you do not wish me to have to feed," Todd said, a dread-filled reluctance creeping into his voice.

~~~

"Hello?"

"Hey, Jack."

"Daniel!"

"Hi."

"Uh-oh. What is it now?"

"Um, I need to go to Atlantis for a bit?"

"Daniel..."

"They need a voice of reason. Apparently I've been nominated."

"You're needed here."

"They have a Teal'c situation over there, and he doesn't have the advantage of being on Sheppard's team."

"Ronon's been housetrained."

"Heh. Not Ronon, he **is** on Sheppard's team. Todd."

"Uhh, wait. Isn't he a--"

"Wraith? Yes, Jack. That would be the point of my saying 'they have a Teal'c situation.'"

"If I'm not mistaken, Daniel, Wraith eat people. That would kind of be the reason why Atlantis is at war with them?"

"And Todd is the only ally we have among the Wraith. Any end to the war that doesn't include complete annihilation is going to depend on him, you know that. You read the reports."

"Yes, I have. That's why I'm not liking this plan of yours."

"Todd wants to stay in Atlantis. He's not going to feed on me."

"And you know this how?"

"Sam called. Major Lorne and his team have closed ranks to protect Todd."

"Didn't he disappear on some mission almost two months ago?"

"I read the report - again - and I don't think it's 'Todd disappeared' so much as 'Todd sacrificed himself to save the rest of his team.' Something tells me he's not that big of a risk."

"He's not like Teal'c, Daniel."

"No, he's not. He's...if the Tok'ra didn't exist, this would be more like Klorel coming to us and asking us to help him learn to live as a partner to his host instead of a parasite."

"Except Klorel didn't **eat** his host."

"That's the **point,** Jack. Todd's trying to cooperate, but we've done nothing to try and find him an alternative food supply. We can't hope to end this war if we won't meet him halfway."

"Daniel, your idea of halfway is--"

"Don't even go there. I'll only be gone a few days, a week at most."

"Mmhmm."

"Look, I have to use the Stargate. I'd go out on the Daedelus, but I need to get there now. Not in eighteen days."

"The ZPM isn't supposed--"

"Jack, I don't want to be facing a possible mutiny situation."

"You really think Major Lorne would mutiny."

"We've both worked with him, Jack. Remember P3X-403? Among others? I think he'd do whatever he has to in order to end this war. He'd do what's in the best interest of Atlantis, and Earth, even if that goes against orders. Besides, all he'd have to do is take Todd off-world and hole up until someone comes to their senses."

"I'm going to forget I'm hearing this. I don't think I have to tell you you're making this sound really--"

"Would you listen to me? I'm not saying Lorne's been compromised."

"I'm listening."

"From what I understand, Todd was pretty close to, I don't know, uh, the Wraith equivalent of swearing allegiance to Colonel Sheppard when they helped each other escape from the Genii. I don't know why, it's one of the things I want to find out, but Sheppard apparently didn't give him any room to negotiate, or rejected the possibility, or something."

"I'd say he did the right thing."

"Jack, we don't know anything about their culture. Or anything worthwhile about their biology, or, or anything, really. There may be answers that don't involve mutually assured destruction, but we won't know unless we make an effort to learn."

"So what does Major Lorne have to do with this? Other than the obvious."

"See, that's the thing. Circumstances gave Todd the chance to negotiate some kind of arrangement with Major Lorne, and Lorne took advantage of it. Todd's had the chance to earn his trust -- Lorne's not defecting, he's protecting a non-threatening strategic and tactical advantage from quite possibly a hostile environment. The same thing you did - we all did - for Teal'c when he first joined SG-1. Except Todd doesn't have the advantage of being human. Sam said Sheppard doesn't trust him, and that Ronon wants to shoot him. You and I both know what kind of example that's going to set for the rest of the expedition. She called to warn me that there may be factions forming over this already."

"And you want to help Todd."

"I want to learn whatever I can about the Wraith from someone who knows what he's talking about. And if I can help keep Lorne from having to do anything drastic, all the better."

"I don't like this."

"I promise I won't be in the same room with Todd without a chaperone."

"And I'm reserving the right to kick your ass if he so much as--"

"Jack."

"It's my right to worry about you."

"I know, and I appreciate it. No matter how much I complain."

"So you're leaving...?"

"Tomorrow morning. I want to talk to Major Lorne, and apparently he's deep in 'protect Todd' mode at the moment."

"One week."

"Yeah, one week, tops."

"I really don't like this."

"I know, Jack."

"See you in a week?"

"A week. If not sooner."

"Call me the minute you get back."

"I promise."

~~~

There was no line for Lorne's team to wait through; at this time of night, most people on normal schedules had already eaten dinner, and it was too early for the overnighters. None of them, not even Miller, teased Todd about his tray, piled high with food like Ronon, or McKay. Food was one topic that was still on shaky ground between them.

The team's table had moved from slightly off-center and accessible before Todd had disappeared, to the far corner, where his teammates could control who approached them, and how. Lorne could have worried when Todd trailed behind them on the way, but let Todd be, the faint echo of home/familiar/relief soothing.

Lorne's tray barely managed to meet the edge of the table properly as a spike of terror shot down his spine. His stomach churned, bile crawling up his throat as the urge to flee tensed his muscles. He whipped around, hand going instinctively to his sidarm, to find Todd frozen in place halfway across the mess.


	8. Chapter 8

"Major? Was Colonel Sheppard in here when we came in?" Webber asked.

"Does it matter? He's scaring the hell out of Todd." Lorne forced himself to breathe, shove the foreign emotions and the sense he was being hunted aside. "Go get two pitchers of ice water. Parrish, Miller, you're with me."

"Hoo, boy," Parrish muttered, pushing his chair back under the table.

"We're not leaving a man behind." _'Not this time,'_ Lorne didn't say, forcing his hand away from his sidearm - shooting his CO might be momentarily satisfying, but ultimately, it would be very stupid.

"No, sir." Miller followed as Lorne threaded his way through the tables.

"Colonel," Lorne said as he came to a stop between the two, carefully keeping his voice neutral.

"I was just welcoming Todd to the mess, and hoping he enjoyed his dinner," Sheppard answered lightly. His smile didn't quite meet his eyes.

Somehow, Todd managed to still even more.

Lorne had to suppress a growl at Todd's fear; Sheppard had no idea what he was doing to the Wraith. "Todd, Miller, Parrish, go eat. I'll join you in a moment." Todd twitched. "Go."

Sheppard narrowed his eyes. "Is there a problem?"

"You mean besides Todd's discomfort with you? Or how unhappy he is that he hasn't been able to prove to you that he has value to us?" Lorne moved to stay between Sheppard and the retreating backs of his team members, breaking his line of sight.

"He's that upset."

"Yes," Lorne said softly. "I'm asking you as a friend, and a colleague, please leave him alone right now."

Considering, Sheppard was silent for a time, measuring the certainty in Lorne's stance, in his eyes. "You're sure you can handle him."

"I'm sure no one else has even a sliver of a chance to." Lorne raised his chin. "He's my responsibility. You and Colonel Carter put him in my care. Don't get in the way, you're doing more damage than you think."

"Damage. To a Wraith."

"Yes. Damage to a Wraith that was willing to follow you."

Sheppard frowned. "That wasn't--"

"He was willing to follow you, Colonel," Lorne said again, sad and determined. "He wanted to put you in my position, but you never gave him the chance."

"It wasn't part of the bargain."

"You didn't give him room to renegotiate." Lorne shrugged. "Todd's my responsibility now. That includes keeping him from getting hurt, and right now, that's all you can do to him."

Shifting his weight, Sheppard sighed, then nodded curtly. "Go eat with your men, Major."

Lorne nodded in acknowledgement. "Colonel." He didn't look back.

~~~

"Major?" David eased onto one of the barstools across the counter.

"Mmm."

"Is he okay?" The concern in David's voice was expected, if troubling.

"No." Lorne didn't take his eyes off the Wraith, curled up against the couch, cheek jammed into the side of the armchair next to it. Miller slept on the couch behind him, arm dangling over Todd's shoulder; Webber had simply passed out on the floor, exhausted from the mental and emotional toll Todd's return had taken. Lorne didn't think it'd be too long before he followed.

"Didn't think so, not after dinner," David muttered bitterly to himself.

Lorne suppressed a wince at the reminder; he'd returned to the table to find Todd wild-eyed and shaking, barely able to keep from shattering the plastic cup Miller had patiently refilled each time it was emptied. And that had been before Lorne had had to order him to actually eat the food he'd gone to the mess for in the first place.

"It's comforting, to be with him like this," David said almost to himself.

"Yes," Lorne answers absently, wondering if Todd had tagged the rest of his team. He berated himself a moment later; of course Todd had, they were his team. "We're Hive."

David leaned over the counter, hands pressed to his chest. "I'd wondered about that. I mean...I don't. He's, was..."

"Telepathic. Alone in his own mind?" Lorne tilted his head back, seeing David at the edge of his field of vision. "Does it bother you?"

"What, that he's telepathic, or that he's apparently judged us worthy of being his chosen Hive?"

Lorne shrugged, going back to watching Todd sleep.

"Always knew about the telepathy. Kind of proud of the Hive thing."

"Wouldn't advertise that, or even that we are."

"Insane here, not stupid." David laughed a little, punchy from the lateness of the hour, relief and happiness singing through him.

A small smile quirked Lorne's lips, unexpected and sweet. "Then I suppose we are all insane together." He pushed away from the counter and turned. "You staying? I don't want to wake them, but you don't have to--"

"Of course I'm staying. Someone has to keep you out of trouble."

Lorne rolled his eyes, heading for his room to fetch blankets for the five of them. No use in sleeping apart.

~~~

_"...Lts. Miller and Webber, Dr. Parrish and I hid; Todd could not, and disappeared before we were able to leave. I can only assume that the Wraith took him with them..."_

"What **happened,** Major? This doesn't make any sense," Colonel Carter asked her datapad in frustration. The words refused to resolve themselves into a more logical configuration, and the datapad dropped to the desk with a dull clatter.

"You lose Todd to the Wraith; you move into a family suite and get McKay to mess with the lock so even John can't get in...you were expecting him to come back, you were **planning** on it." The pen in her hand glided over her notepad, nib biting deeply into the surface as black ink underlined Todd's name, then again. "What did he do? How did he earn that?" Simple questions, answers that could be simple and at the same time so incredibly complex.

More words appeared, Carter's hand left to its own devices as her mind worked at the problem. _Wraith, prisoner, Hive, Hivemind, telepathy..._ what Todd **was.** Then _alone, isolation, Genii, Kolya, Sheppard, Teyla, Lorne, cloning..._

Nausea welled; her free hand went to her stomach in a futile attempt to stave off the discomfort.

Lines should not have been drawn; Major Lorne was more than just Colonel Sheppard's XO, the best XO Sheppard had ever had, they were friends. Friends who'd rescued each other more than once, who trusted each other. But Major Lorne had called Todd a member of his team, or so Sheppard had said. A warning, and a challenge.

This wasn't team, this too-familiar obfuscation, planning, the drawing of lines. This was more. Deeper. And she had no idea if someone could be removed from a Hive once made a part of it.


	9. Chapter 9

"Unscheduled offworld activation!"

Colonel Carter strode from her office to Chuck's gateroom station, hovering over his shoulder. "IDC?"

"It's Stargate Command, sir." Chuck's hands moved over his controls.

"If that's not Daniel, I'll--"

Daniel's disembodied laughter echoed through the room. "No eating of otherwise inedible objects necessary, Sam. Permission to visit?"

"Permission granted, Daniel," she said with a smile. "Our shield is down." She only managed to make it halfway down the stairs before Daniel was stepping through the gate, backpack slung over one shoulder, a small duffel in his opposite hand. "Welcome to Atlantis. We weren't exactly--"

"Expecting me?" Daniel finished, letting his bag drop carelessly to the floor so he could hug his former team mate. "You should know better than that."

"You'd think so, wouldn't you?" Sam murmured into Daniel's ear, pleasure and relief at seeing him, having him *here*, coloring her voice. After yet another minute of their bone-crushing hug, she pulled back, eyes shiny. "Come on. I haven't finished my coffee yet."

"Which cup, second or third?"

"First!" Sam laughed, leading the way to her office.

~~~

Of all the reasons Lorne sometimes hated his near-infallible six a.m. inner alarm clock (two hours' sleep the night before a day off being near the top of the list), this one was possibly the worst. Lethargic contentment hummed in the back of his mind, the sleep-heavy presence of Parrish and Miller above him, with Webber to one side; Todd dozed, but awareness started creeping in, dragged to the surface with Lorne's.

Todd's arm twitched against Lorne's back, his fingers pressing briefly into Lorne's ribcage.

Lorne tried to project safety and warmth back, and was rewarded when Todd sighed heavily and scrubbed his cheek against Lorne's shoulder. It didn't help when Lorne tried to ease his way out from beneath the Wraith, though, and he only managed to lever himself upright under Todd's sleep-addled gaze. "Hey," he whispered.

Todd raised his head a little and blinked.

"I have work to do - not leaving you, just paperwork, really," he explained when Todd tensed, "but I have to get up. You can go back to sleep."

Lowering his head back to the floor, Todd just whuffled softly against Lorne's hip and clamped a hand down on his leg before going back to sleep.

Lorne swiftly squelched a sarcastic thought in response, sighing instead and turning his attention to freeing himself with the least disturbance to Todd and the rest of his team. 

Webber joined Lorne at the table by the time Colonel Carter's summons came. He watched silently as Lorne stared at Todd, still asleep and using Lorne's discarded shirt for a pillow; then his commanding officer stood and left the apartment without a word.


	10. Chapter 10

"You wanted to see me, sir?" Lorne strode into the office, having knocked on the doorjamb and pointedly not waited for Carter to invite him in.

Curiosity and dread warring, Daniel watched, unsure of whether or not Lorne had seen him in the corner. Carter's eyes flashed hard, flat anger, an answer to the Major's entrance; it had been typical O'Neill, or Sheppard. From Lorne, it meant there was a really fine rage bubbling up from somewhere.

"For a man whose team has been put on stand-down until further notice, you could act less--"

Lorne cut her off. "Less what, sir? Less like I've just been ordered to break a promise? One to someone who's already on shaky ground to begin with?" He shook his head, making a loud clicking noise deep in his throat. "Oh, but I forgot, he's just a Wraith. We don't care about them, do we?"

Confusion had Daniel sitting up straight; this didn't sound anything like what he remembered of Lorne, and he had to wonder where this was coming from.

"Major." Colonel Carter's knuckles whitened on the desktop. "I have been doing everything I can to help him. I've taken you and your team off mission rotation. I granted Todd official freedom in Atlantis. I did as you asked and kept Colonel Sheppard off your back, which believe me, was not easy. Nor was convincing Ronon that you and your team were enough security."

"That's all well and good, Colonel, you're giving the human side of things a lot of consideration. I suppose it hasn't occured to you to give Todd even a fraction of that."

"Major Lorne--"

"Colonel Carter," Lorne bit out. "Todd has been a productive member of my team for two months. You know that, you read the reports. You know damn well that he's not a security risk. What would it cost you to ask him if there's something you could do to make him more comfortable? Less than that, what would it cost you to acknowledge -- to Todd, not to the SGC -- that he has a right to be here?"

"I put you in charge of his security--"

"And you've circumvented that order every day since then."

"In what way, Major?"

"How much do you know about Wraith biology? Social structure?" Lorne's back straightened, and Daniel opened his mouth to interrupt, only to shut it again as Colonel Carter twitched a finger at him. "How about Wraith laws and customs? Can you even tell me what caste Todd belongs to?"

"Major, regardless of what I do or do not know about the Wraith, I'm still aware that eventually, we'll have to feed Todd."

Daniel could hear the breath Lorne took then, could see the fists he made at his sides.

"I had a great deal of respect for Dr. Weir. She wasn't perfect; some of the things she approved shouldn't have been. Her diplomatic experience was with humans, not completely alien species. I had high hopes in that regard, when I heard you were going to replace her. Your experience with the Tok'ra, the Nox, Tollans, Asgard..." Lorne tilted his head to one side. "Todd is the only chance we will ever have to end this war without completely annihilating the Wraith. Are you willing to do that?"

"It won't be the first time we've done it."

"Won't it? The Tok'ra and the Goa'uld are the same species. So are the Ori and the Alterans. Same species, different philosophy. Not only did we not have anything to do with the Asgards' extinction, they postponed self-termination in order to let us try and help. The Replicators - both kinds - were machines. We've never been directly responsible for the eradication of another sentient species."

"You're accusing me of condoning xenocide," Carter said flatly.

"No, I'm saying that, with very few exceptions, this expedition has been unwilling to pursue alternatives. Sir."

"I don't know about Dr. Weir's reasons for her actions while she was leader of the expedition, but I personally am not in favor of harboring a threat who, according to you, cannot even answer to me. Can he answer to the SGC? Can he answer to the IOA?"

"Todd is not. A. Threat," Lorne snarled. "If you'd give him half a chance he'd be able to prove that to you. As for who he answers to? I can't tell you if he'd answer to you, or the SGC, or to the IOA, because he's not in any condition to answer to anyone right now. He needs *time*."

"I'm sorry, Major, time is something I can't give him without a better reason."

"You want a better reason? How about the lab full of Wraith tech even Teyla can't activate? The Dart Rodney and Zelenka have been trying to reverse engineer?"

Carter's lips thinned for a moment before she answered. "You think Todd would help us with it."

"He swore to help us with anything asked of him, Colonel, it was part of his bargain in seeking asylum here."

"That's assuming he knows anything about it."

"Sir, with all due respect, you've seen him work with McKay. If you think he doesn't have anything to contribute to this expedition, you're deluding yourself."

Color stained Carter's cheeks with anger. "Major, you're out of line."

"Am I, Colonel? Ever since you were posted here, you've been questioning your own orders with regards to how the IOA would take them. What happens if we get cut off from Earth? What happens if Earth gets in trouble and you're the officer in charge of bailing them out?"

Carter was on her feet, hands planted flat on the desk as she leaned over it, by the time Lorne was halfway through. "Major, you are out of line."

"Um, actually, no, he's not, Sam," Daniel managed, drawing both their attention. "Yes, you -- theoretically, and in practice -- answer to the SGC, and the IOA, but realistically speaking, the only things keeping Atlantis bound to Earth are loyalty and habit. You don't think that way, and the IOA was counting on it when they sent you here."

"Colonel," Lorne said when Carter didn't respond, the anger in his voice tempered, "even if we did nothing, even if we all went back through the Gate back to Earth and left Pegasus forever? We've already done things that will probably mean the Wraith's extinction. Between Michael, the Hoffan drug, the Genii, and the sheer hope we've given people here because we were able to fight back and survive? Todd's the only chance we have to maybe -- maybe! -- stop the xenocide that's already going on."

"Sam, you know why I'm here," Daniel said, getting to his feet.

Carter took a deep breath and held it, glaring at Lorne balefully. "Get out of here, both of you. And Major?"

Lorne paused mid-pivot.

"If you don't keep me up to date with Todd's...progress, I'll see him back in the brig."


	11. Chapter 11

"Have a seat, Doctor Jackson."

Daniel froze instead, watching as Lorne closed his office door and circled his desk.

"Sit." Lorne looked up and jerked his chin sideways.

"I'm not your enemy, Evan." Daniel spoke softly, edging smoothly toward the indicated chair.

Frustration and challenge flashed in Lorne's eyes. "If you were anyone else, I'd have told you to go home." One hand fisted on the desktop; Lorne inhaled deeply, then added, "Except Teal'c. Maybe."

"I'm not here to make things difficult for you, either. Or Todd."

"Why are you here then?"

"To talk to Todd. Because no one knows anything about the Wraith. Because he's just like Teal'c was, but-"

"No, he's not."

Daniel blinked at the interruption. "Evan, Teal'c-"

"Was First Prime of Apophis when he joined SG-1," Lorne stated flatly.

"Okay, and Todd's a Wraith."

"The parallels are superficial at best, Doctor Jackson." Lorne crossed his arms and glared, his entire body so tense he was all but vibrating.

A furrow appeared between Daniel's eyebrows. "Okay," he said, nodding uncertainly. "Granted, I don't know that much about Todd, but-"

"Teal'c was First Prime." Lorne leaned over his desk, hands flat on the surface as he lowered himself to eyelevel without sitting down. "He had a position of trust and power. He was physically healthy and mentally stable."

Daniel swallowed, adjusting his glasses. "And Todd?"

"Does January 27, 1945 mean anything to you? Because comparing Todd to the survivors would be generous." The last word was hissed through bared teeth.

"Of course, the liberation of Auschwitz by the Soviets, but that's not--Evan, I haven't met him, but that, that can't be--" Daniel stopped, shook his head.

Lorne waited, snagging his chair with one foot and sitting down.

"You're obviously pissed at Sam," and Daniel couldn't quite keep the resentment from coloring his tone. "I'm not entirely sure why, and I don't have a clue what you think you're going to manage by antagonizing her. Taking it out on me isn't going to help."

"If I'd wanted to antagonize her, I wouldn't have tapdanced around the fact that the SGC barely pays lip service to the Geneva Conventions," Lorne said mildly. 

"That's not true and you know it!"

"Do I? Then tell me something, Doctor. What do the Wraith consider to be torture?"

Daniel had no answer.

"You don't know, do you? They were written by humans, for humans, and we don't bother to work out what the equivalents would be for those we call our friends and allies. Much less for our enemies."

"For Todd."

Lorne nodded. 

"Why didn't you say anything? If Todd's in as bad a shape as you say he is, then--"

"There are only a handful of people in this city who haven't been treating Todd as their personal whipping boy. I am not about to give anyone any more amunition."

"And telling people what they've been doing wrong also tells them how to make things worse. Okay, wow, that's..." Daniel rubbed his forehead, trying to stave off the headache blossoming behind his eyes. "So how can I help?"

"Well, now, that depends on you."

"You have to know that this policy of enforced ignorance isn't going to help him in the long run. All it's doing now is burning your bridges."

"They're my bridges to burn."

"Evan, I'm trying to, I came here as a friend. You said so yourself, you would have turned anyone else away. This is not helping." Restless, Daniel pushed himself to his feet and paced the small area between the desk and the door, one hand rubbing the back of his neck. "You asked Sam what she knew about Wraith biology, social structure, laws and customs. I'm going to go out on a limb here and guess that some of that information would be dangerous for Todd if it were widely known. What about the rest? Are there things I can ask him without putting him at risk? Things that will give me leverage?"

"And here I thought I was going to have to kick you back through the 'gate."

Daniel stopped and turned, surprised less at the lack of humor on Lorne's face than the sudden loss of tension. "You were baiting me. You were baiting Sam. Jesus, Evan, you could have told me--" He sank back into his chair.

Lorne shrugged. "Like I said, my bridges to burn. The only one I give a damn about right now is Todd."

"And," Daniel said slowly, bits and pieces fitting together, "you can't afford to be angry around Todd, because he'll pick up on it and might think you're angry at him."

"I'm not going to tell you what you can't talk to Todd about. He doesn't work like that."

"I don't--"

"There are some things that will be more valuable if timed properly. And some that I'd prefer to keep a secret, period." 

"Okay? So if you're not going to limit my questions, then...?"

"You'll know. Or you can ask me. One thing I will warn you about..." Lorne shifted his weight, drawing his sidearm.

"What's that?" Daniel eyed Lorne warily as he ejected the clip, then removed the round from the barrel. "And why--?"

"Don't use sarcasm around him." Lorne slid the full clip across the desk, then stood and reholstered his weapon. "Hold on to that."

"Um, okay? Is this--?"

"I'm not entirely sure how Todd's going to react to you in our quarters, but if I'm right, we'll just call it item number one on the list of things to keep secret."

Daniel looked down at the black case in his hand and swallowed.


	12. Unposted Bits

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> These are scenes from the middle of Where We Live; since the connecting bits weren't written, they weren't posted.

**Lorne recovering in Medbay after Ronon stuns Todd thinking Todd is feeding on Lorne**

There were words. Words and sentences, some language he couldn't understand, in a handful of voices he should know: one male, too fast and anxious, constantly interrupted by one of the others or more commonly by himself; a second male, tone smoky, ironic and hard; a female, low, even and professional; a third male, deep, gravelly and rarely commenting. 

Others were present, three a muted hum of **rightness** (beside the ball of neurotic energy that kept **talking),** and a deeper sense of home further off, parted from him by some barrier; enough small, random shuffling and indignation to signify guards.

Shadows played against his eyelids, the light on the outside entirely too much. He opened his eyes anyways, remembering the sun rising over the ocean, light splintering into colors beyond human comprehension.

The scream stuck in his throat as he lurched upwards, his eyes shutting reflexively, futilely against the artificial light of the infirmary. His shoulders heaved, stomach clenched as bile crawled up his throat. "/*I'm going to be sick,*/" he whimpered, the sounds harsh to his own ears. His stomach clenched, muscles tightening rhythmically as his stomach started to reject its contents.

Sound was reduced to the beeping of the monitors for the moment before pandemonium reigned, starting with startled exclamations. Then someone was in front of him, holding a basin, hand hot and abrasive on his side in support. He flinched away from the touch even as he lost his battle with pain-induced nausea; one of those who felt right moved in behind him, keeping him from falling off the bed as he retched.

~~~

**Clone Carson Beckett stuff**

"After he collapsed, I did a scan and found evidence of necrosis in several of his internal organs. His cells aren't renewing fast enough to sustain tissue function," Dr. Keller explained, rounding Carson's bed and adjusting the ventilation tubes beneath his pillow. Behind her, Ronon hovered, armed crossed over his chest.

"Any idea why?" Carter asked.

Carson slept, oblivious to the quiet discussion, his skin sheened with sweat.

"I can only assume it’s a complication due to the fact he’s a clone. I’ve given him a course of treatment to try to stimulate cell growth, but it’s a bit like trying to find a cure for old age."

"What are you saying?" Sheppard whispered.

Carter and Rodney traded glances.

"On the outside he looks fine, but on the inside ... well, he’s – he’s dying."

Sheppard stared down at Carson lying so still in the bed, the monitors beeping incessantly.

"Colonel?" Carter sounded somehow inquisitive and warning.

"I have to..." What, exactly, Sheppard had to do was lost in an explosive exhalation as he backed away from the bed and left the infirmary.

~~~

Lorne thought the door open at the chime, half-rising from his seat on the couch as John stepped tentatively through the opening.

"No, don't..." John sighed. "I wanted to be the one to tell you. I thought you should know, I don't know if you can do anything about it, or just want to--"

"What is it?" Todd cut him off.

"Carson's dying. Something about the cloning process, his cells aren't renewing themselves fast enough."

Lorne glanced over at his partner. "Michael had to reinvent the wheel?"

"Hmm. Yes. It would make sense." Todd cocked his head, his gloved hands kneading the edge of the cushions as he considered.

"Like I said," John started again, holding his hands up as if in surrender. "I don't know if you can do anything. But..." He stopped and shook his head. "I'll stay away from the infirmary for the time being, anyways."

"That will not be necessary." Todd stood, not liking the expression on John's face, in his eyes.

John shook his head. "I know when I've fucked up, and I'm still paying for that. Probably will be for a good while yet. If there is something you can do for him, you'll be able to do it better without me hanging around. If not, well...I owe you the chance to find out, in private."

Lorne tried to answer, but John was gone before he could say anything.

~~~

Somehow, John wasn't surprised to find Ronon waiting for him four levels up, where they normally started their running circuit. Instead of letting him just get on with it, and work on escaping the sickening miasma of his own mind, though, Ronon made him stretch, made him prevent the mass of aches and pains he'd been counting on as a distraction later.

~~~~

"Where do you think you're going?" Dr. Keller put a restraining hand on Carson's shoulder.

"We have work to do."

"No, I have work to do. You need to stay in bed. The less you exert yourself, the better."

"She's right," Lorne's voice floated over from the doorway. 

Rodney and Keller looked up to see the major enter the infirmary, Todd a step behind him. Keller looked back down, barely in time to keep Carson from twisting himself off the bed in his attempt to see.

"We came as soon as we heard."

"Why, there's nothing you can do," Rodney said.

"I'm dying, Lorne. Unless we can get, or make, more of whatever drug Michael gave me--"

"I do not think that will be necessary," Todd growled, flexing his hands beneath his ever-present leather gloves.

Silence reigned as the humans pondered the Wraith's abilities.

"Ye can't save me, lad, all it is is a life-force transfer," Carson whispered.

"There is much that you do not know about the Wraith, Carson Beckett." His oft-repeated statement drew a smattering of weak laughter. "I would be...most pleased to teach you, though it would be best if you wold allow me to show you what I mean. I do not believe waiting will make this easier for either of us."

"We have a Wraith in Atlantis," Carson muttered to himself, allowing himself to collapse back against the mattress and stare dumbly at the ceiling, "and he's trying to help me."

"Hmmm. Yes." Todd's mouth quirked a little at one corner as Lorne coughed. "I have been here for some time now, Carson Beckett."

"He's a friend," Dr. Keller added.

"Yes, yes, he's even a very good friend, even I'll admit to that," Rodney added.

"Carson," Lorne started, "please. Let Todd try. I know it's hard to believe, and hard to trust. Most of the expedition is still trying. But I promise you, he won't hurt you. And no one wants to lose you again."

Carson stared, silently weighing his past against the now, and the unbelievable truths before him. Gaze sliding past Lorne to Todd's pale golden eyes, Carson licked his lips. "I don't want to die." The words were faint, trembling in nervous acceptance.

Todd nodded, holding his feeding hand out to Lorne; the major carefully worked the thin black leather over his palm, off the sharp points of his fingertips. Skin brushed skin as they parted, Todd's glove held loosely in Lorne's hand; there was no mistaking the intimacy of the act, or the trust between them.

Keller and Rodney backed away, giving at least some semblance of privacy for what they knew was a rare gift, and not one given lightly. Lorne reached out, squeezing Todd's arm, and nodded when Todd turned back towards him, acknowledgement and quiet I'll-be-here in their shared glance.

Then Todd was hovering over the bedside, too close for comfort; Carson couldn't keep himself from cringing back against the mattress, eyes from widening in fear.

"I will not ask you not to be afraid," Todd said softly. "Try to relax if you can. I cannot promise this will not hurt; I do not know what I will find, or if the effects of the cloning process are the only problem to be dealt with." 

"I'm sure at some point I'll be laughin' about this, bein' treated by a Wraith doctor, but right now, it's makin' me a wee bit anxious."

"I understand. I will try to make this as easy as possible on you." Todd shifted, glancing back at Lorne for a moment before lowering his gaze to Carson's chest. "May I, or would you rather...It is easier without clothing in the way," he explained at Carson's confusion.

"Oh! Oh, aye, here," and he fumbled with the collar of his scrubs, pulling it down and baring the skin beneath his throat.

Todd slowly lowered his feeding hand over Carson's chest, letting the man see what was happening and noting the rapid breathing. His hand paused just before he made contact, and he caught Carson's gaze, willing him to believe him, to believe his friends if not the Wraith himself. "I will not hurt you," he said again, waiting for Carson's tiny nod before resting his hand on Carson's chest.

Carson gasped as Todd 'bit' down, muscles tensing at the slight shock of pain. Then a slow warmth spread through his body. "Todd? What's happening?"

//I am giving you the Gift of Life, just a little bit. It serves to ease your pain, and maintain the connection,// Todd explained, forcing eye contact. //Relax.//

"Aye, relaxing now." Carson swallowed, letting the warmth of the Gift seep into him. This is much like the meditations Teyla's been tryin' to teach me, he thought to himself.

//In a way, it is much like meditation, yes.// Todd was ready for the sudden tension, the surprise that threatened to undo his progress. //This is but one reason why we do not give the Gift lightly.//

//There are others?//

//Many,// Todd whispered, and then was silent, his concentration humming through Carson's blood, the connection forged between them taut and vibrating.

Heat thrummed through Carson's body, singing along nerves long neglected. His breath caught, dazed eyes struggling against the sudden need for darkness.

Todd went deeper, beyond the organs struggling to function, beneath the tissues fighting just to stay alive, acknowledging and rejecting the faint bitter echo of the drugs Dr. Keller administered to aid Carson's body, now simply another barrier. The Gift had already told him it would not be enough, that the decay would return as soon as the flow was stopped. 

Carson's faint arousal was expected, a distraction easily set aside and masked from his friends, if not from Todd.

Hearts beat a mad rhythm in Todd's ears, Carson's eyes reduced to wintery blue flecks as the infirmary faded from awareness. Nothing remained to his senses but the warm flesh beneath his palm, the dischordant song of a life out of balance, failing cells screaming for succor.

The damage, when it made itself known, was tiny, and pervasive. And it would hurt, hurt them both to repair, to reverse what had already been done, enough that after what Michael had done, what Todd could sense in the shadows...

Todd drew back, the infirmary rushing back into focus. "Dr. Keller."

"Todd? Is something--" She didn't want to finish, didn't want to know what made Todd's voice so raspy.

A rough purr grated from Todd's throat. "You will need to sedate him for this. Not yet - there is other damage I must see to while he is still conscious - but I gave my word I would not--"

"Todd," Carson interrupted weakly. "It is all right."

Todd hissed, rage splitting his lips in a twisted grimace. "It is not all right. There are things he--" He choked on the words, incoherent, turned to stalk away from the bed. His still-gloved hand lashed out, reaching for an IV-rack.

Lorne caught him by the wrist, grip gentle, but implacable. "Todd."

Still hissing, Todd pulled ineffectually at his arm, nearly managing to take Lorne off his feet before he relented and looked up.

"This is not your fault."

Carson stared at Lorne and Todd, then looked over to where Rodney was pointedly ignoring them. Rodney met his eyes, and Carson tilted his head to where Lorne was trying to soothe Todd, despite the simple fact that Todd dwarfed him. 

Rodney's lips thinned, and he nodded once, rubbing the bridge of his nose.

'Oh, my, that's...disturbing. And a relief,' Carson thought to himself, trying not to think of how **that** relationship came into being. But it made Todd's presence here, and the intimacy between him and Lorne, make sense.

Made why Todd was somehow willing to heal **him** make sense.

Todd whirled back toward him, the edges of his coat brushing Lorne's legs. "Carson Beckett." The name was hissed in a mouthful of sibilants and staccato.

"Aye?"

"You will be joining the mission to find Teyla?" Harnessed anger burned gold in the Wraith's eyes.

"If the colonel will let me, aye, I know...things."

Todd nodded. "I will make certain of it. I believe you may be the only one capable of dealing with Michael."

Carson swallowed hard.

"He left you with no defenses. None at all, against him," and the last was stressed so that no mistake could be made in his meaning. "He will not believe you able to harm him."

"You--you're serious?" Rodney asked, incredulous. "Carson couldn't hurt a fly, I mean, Michael--"

"Rodney."

Rodney stuttered to a stop.

"After everything Michael's done to me, I'd put a bullet between 'is eyes, and smile. The knowledge that he's hurt the rest of ye, and so many others? Aye, I'd kill 'im, given the chance."

Todd strode back over to the bed, his yellow gaze pinning Carson to the mattress. "Then let us make sure you get that chance." His feeding hand descended once again, and this time Carson barely flinched.

//Relaxing, as ordered.// Carson's mental tone was resolved, sarcastically amused even as he took a deep breath and released it, letting the tension drain from his muscles with the air expelled from his lungs.

//Good. I will need your help with this, as this is almost entirely mental, not physical like the cloning damage.//

//Show me what t' do.// Almost immediately, Carson felt a ticklish presence sliding along the edge of his awareness, intent and alien. Memories triggered and vanished, too fast for him to register, to remember what had happened; then one stuck, black fear coiling in his belly. He whimpered, trying to suppress it again.

//Don't.// 

Todd's presence gave him something to hold onto, and Carson clung, feeling the alienness cut away the taint, burn away the blackness, and the memory faded back into his subconcious, save for a single twisting thread, no more than a smudge leading...somewhere else inside his mind.

//This is what he did, Carson Beckett. This is how he laid you bare and helpless.// The thread was plucked, sending shivers of terror skittering down Carson's spine. //I know you are afraid. I know this will not be pleasant. But I cannot allow a single memory to remain like this, and you must help me hold onto the trail. Sorting blindly through your memories will be too tiring for us both, and I still have other damage to repair, after.//

//Aye, I understand.// And Carson did, and more than just what Todd was about to do. He spared a glance at Lorne, standing silent and supportive, and received a nod before looking back into slitted eyes.

//It may be easier for you to see your mental self as your physical; that way you can hold onto me with one hand, and the trail with the other. I will not let you get lost.// 

Carson flashed on the ridiculous image of himself clinging to Todd's too-tall form like a monkey, or a small child, and had to suppress a laugh. Even so, he sensed Todd's amusement, as well as the endless patience the Wraith had learned in oh-so-many years of living. //Aye.// He shut his eyes, picturing himself as Todd had suggested, and tried to ignore the burning cold that was the thread of darkness in his grip. //I'm ready.//

Todd picked up on Carson's mental projection, wrapping one 'arm' around the man before twining the loose end of the thread about his free hand and giving a vicious yank.

Several shrouded memories appeared like beads on a string, superimposing themselves upon one another; Carson cried out, fighting back by holding on, winding the new slack around his hand. Gold fire lit the backs of his eyelids, cleansing the taint, and the fear was gone, leaving only faint echoes of the pain and the thread waiting to be gathered up and pulled on again.

Todd waited, listening to Carson's breathing slow. //You have a good hold on it.//

//Ye risk much to help me, I cannae do any less.//

//We can do this in stages, like this, though I cannot tell how many times I will have to pull. Or I can do it all at once. I leave the choice up to you.//

Still reeling from the pain, and the fear, and the simple revelations he'd been faced with since his rescue, all Carson could think of was that Lorne was a lucky, lucky man to have Todd to lean on.

//Rest a bit, should you need to,// Todd rumbled when he got no immediate answer. //And I appreciate the sentiment. Very few feel as you do, even here among Lorne's friends.//

The indignation that statement spawned helped clear Carson's head. //Yer quite welcome, lad, and I'll see what I can do to help the situation, soon as I'm able.//

//That will not be necessary.//

//The hell it's not.//

Todd chuckled. //Are you feeling better now?//

//Oh, aye, and don't think I didn't notice what ye were doing.// Todd's amusement in Carson's head bore no apology. //I see the drawbacks in taking this in stages, but what are the risks in doing it all at once?//

//It will be one long pain. You still need to hold onto the trail. There is no risk of dying while connected like this, but there is some risk that you may go catatonic. Once it is over, I can lead you back.//

//So it really is just a matter of preference, then.//

//Hmm. Yes.//

Carson inhaled deeply, bracing himself, then let go. //All at once. Let's get this over with.//

//This part,// Todd reminded him.

//Oh, aye, I am not forgetting that.//

//I did not think you had.// And Todd yanked, winding the thread around Carson's free arm and his own hand, more and more memories surfacing to be scorched free of shadows.

To his credit, Carson did not scream, though his body arched off the bed, his legs clamping down around Todd's body inside his mind as a small, thin whimper escaped. The hand holding the thread clenched into a fist, nails breaking the skin; blood stained the darkness, making it coil up on its own. Then it was all white and black and blurry colors and gold fire that chased him from awareness, thinking only of holding onto that little bit of darkness because someone told him he had to...

Todd finished as quickly as he dared, pulling and pulling on the thread until there was no more, the other end anchored in the past. Two years. At the point of this Carson's creation. Todd rumbled in anger, and gathered himself again, wrapping the last of the slack around his feeding hand and pulling the power out of it, weakening the anchor until it snapped, recoiling on him and dissipating in a cloud of shadowy mist. //Carson Beckett.//

Carson did not answer.

A sigh left him, and he gently lay down his burden, projecting a copy of the hospital bed for his charge before finding the golden sparkles left behind by his own presence, yet another trail laid down in trespass. Noticed, the sparkles dissolved, whirling around like crazed fireflies until Todd snatched one gently out of the air, cupping it in his hand. //Carson,// he whispered to it, //it is safe now. Come back. Come home.//

The sparkle in his palm flared and winked out.

Todd nodded to himself, to the too-still body, before carefully extracting himself from the center of Carson's mind.

He was choking when he surfaced, choking on Carson's pain, the backlash, the sheer **effort** of maintaining that deep an unbonded connection; his feeding hand disengaged with a sickening wet splat at the same time his knees buckled. Lorne was there instantly, arms around his waist, strong and firm and easing him to the floor, voice crooning soft comfort in Todd's ear. Todd trembled, sweat-slick and aching and too exhausted to care about his dignity in front of these scant few people who'd seen him in far worse condition and without the excuse of helping their friend; he turned, hunched his shoulders and buried his face in Lorne's shoulder.

Dr. Keller stood on the other side of Carson's bed, checking his lifesigns and wiping away the clear fluid Todd had left behind. "He's breathing, heartbeat's a little fast. Unconscious."

"No, he's not," Lorne corrected, interrupting himself. "He's catatonic. He'll pull out of it soon, when the backlash fades."

Dr. Keller knew better than to question Lorne's judgement.

Rodney just went to the wall dispenser and returned with a cup of cold water in each hand, offering one to Lorne. He'd seen trauma hit Todd like this before; last time, the Wraith had downed close to a gallon of ice water before he'd been able to stop shaking.

Lorne's thanks was in his eyes when he turned, accepting the water with a curt nod before helping Todd drink it in noisy, desperate swallows. Lorne made Todd slow down on the second cup, though the Wraith still grunted softly with each mouthful, his hands clutching at the major's waist rhythmically.

Dr. Keller let her hands fall to the sheet as she watched Todd and Lorne curled up on the floor, Rodney hovering over them. "Todd, you aren't doing this again, not until you've had a chance to rest."

"Can't do that," Lorne said softly. "We can't afford to stop." He tilted his head up, handing the second cup back to Rodney with a silent request and turned his attention back to Todd; Rodney went back to the wall for more water.

"Lorne, whatever Todd did put Carson in a catatonic state - you think - and I don't even know what to--"

"Whatever Michael did was primitive," Lorne said in a bland tone, the words partially muffled by Todd's hair. "He didn't know what he was doing, and used brute strength to do what subtlety and knowledge could have done a lot more effectively with a lot less effort. Unfortunately for Todd, that kind of mental tampering usually takes more effort to fix than to do in the first place."

Keller's eyebrows rose, and she exchanged a look with Rodney; this wasn't the first time Lorne had said or done something that hinted at some kind of mental connection with Todd, but neither Todd nor the major would admit to anything, and Lorne **was** the uncontested expert on all things Wraith in Atlantis. Besides Todd.

It was possible.

~~~

**Clone Carson Beckett on the mission to save Teyla from Michael**

 

"Carson."

"I know. I'm the last person ye expected to see," he said, approaching as carefully as time permitted, and that not much. "It's all right, I'm here to help ye." He tried to take her hand.

"It's not possible." Teyla backed away, the frantic terror abating.

"I'm sorry, I don't have time to explain, but Col. Sheppard and th' others are waitin' back at the lab. We have to go. Now." He reached for her arm.

Teyla flinched away. "I can't."

"Teyla!"

"Kanaan. The father of my son, he is still here. I am not leaving without him." Teyla shook her head.

"There's no time." Carson tightened his grasp on her arm and started to pull her away.

"Quite correct."

Carson and Teyla stopped short, swinging around to see Michael standing a few feet away.

"You should have run when you had the chance." Michael ignored the gun Carson pointed at him. "But you let your feelings get in the way." He stepped forward.

"Stay back. I'm warning you." Carson's voice shook a little; so did his gun hand.

"Shoot him, Carson. Shoot him now!"

Michael stepped slowly closer. "He doesn't want to shoot me. Or to be more precise, he'd like nothing more. But like all of my creations, he is open to my influence."

Carson tried, tried again; beside him, Teyla whispered his name desperately. "Ye know," Carson started conversationally.

"What do I know?" Michael smiled patronizingly.

"Apparently not enough to realize that you know **nothing."** He backed away, pulling Teyla with him.

"Oh? So why can't you shoot me?"

"Oh, I can. I just wanted to see the look on yer face when I tell ye...that we made friends with a real Wraith." Carson jerked his gun downward and pulled the trigger, watching in grim satisfaction as Michael thudded to one knee, teeth gritted in pain and shock. "Next time ye try kidnapping one of our own, ye might want to do a little more research." He pulled the trigger again, a solid body shot this time. "Because apparently yer miserable experiments don't hold up against several thousand years of experience." The next bullet took Michael between the eyes; they glazed and dimmed, his body tipping over sideways. "But then, I don't think ye'll be tryin' again, will ye?"

"Carson?" 

"Jes' a second, Teyla, lass," he said, kneeling next to the body to press two fingers to Michael's neck, making sure. "Aye." He stood, wobbling on shaky legs, and held the gun out, butt first. "Would ye like to take a shot?"

"Carson, I do not think that--"

"Lass, I'm not...Ye heard him, I'm a clone. He kept me prisoner for two bloody years. I'd do almost anything before I'd willingly hurt someone, but him?" He couldn't bring himself to say it, couldn't bring himself to admit that even taking three bullets, Michael's death was too quick.

"Carson." Teyla reached out, took the gun from numb and shaking fingers. "You need not explain yourself to me." Pivoting on her heel, she raised the gun and shot Michael, turning his head into a bloody waste spreading across the floor. The trigger clicked on empty; a spare cartridge appeared, and she mindlessly reloaded, emptying the clip into Michael's chest and groin.

Carson watched in sympathy as the tension slowly drained from Teyla's form, the gun, once again empty of bullets, lowering to point at the ground. "Teyla, we need to go. The others, they need to know Michael's dead."

"Yes." Teyla didn't take her eyes off the corpse. "I need to find Kanaan."

"We will do our best, lass, ye know that." Carson tapped his radio. "Colonel, I have Teyla. Michael's dead." He barked a bitter laugh at Sheppard's reply. "Aye, lad, I'm sure. Quite sure."


End file.
